A.N.: Hello readers! Before you continue to the latest chapter, please take a moment to read this. Usually, I don't like commenting on the reviews people leave because one, I like to hear your honest thoughts about my way of writing and two, everybody has the right to their opinion. But lately I've been getting some reviews that are simply about how much some readers dislike a specific character, namely Ginny.
I know some of you didn't want to see her get involved in this story. I know some of you aren't fond of her character. But, please, allow me to say that this is my story; if I believed that Ginny had to appear in the story is because I've come up with something for later on that fits her character as I have imagined it. Maybe my opinion is based on a different image I have created of her in my mind (see my profile for pictures and try not to mind my poor editing talents much), I don't know.
More on her character; a couple of you have sent me messages regarding how strange it was that she reverted from her fangirl ways towards Adrian to more rational and mature thoughts. I would like to point out two things; One, this isn't the same Ginny from canon. Canon Ginny had spent her childhood listening to stories of how great a savior Harry is. This Ginny has grown up knowing Harry and Adrian as individuals due to Adrian's friendship with Ron. She has known both Harry and Adrian since they were very young and I've never described her as having a star crash on Adrian. Yes, she has offered some information to Riddle's diary of him, but Voldemort is nothing but manipulative; he can drill information out of almost everyone, let alone a naïve eleven year old girl in a new environment and in need for a friend. Ginny's character will evolve completely different than in the books. If you want to see how, you'll just have to read on. If you can't even stand the thought, then I'm sorry but this story may not be completely appealing to you.
This is and will always be a story focusing on Severus's and Harry's relationship but other characters will get involved. And allow me to say that I'm the one writing it. Honestly, if one of you wants to use a similar idea to write a story of their own, please feel free to do it; there is no parthenogenesis in art and therefore not in fanfiction either.
That said, I have already explained how I'm having a very serious health issue in my family at the moment; things have been rough and writing is an outlet for my pent-up frustration and anxiety. I don't mind having people criticizing my story; I have outright encouraged it in the past and I'm very glad to have my mistakes pointed out to me. I know that the latest chapters may not have been up to par, but I'm doing my best considering the circumstances. Many of you have tried to overlook their dislike of Ginny wanting to see how the story will evolve -and thank you so much for your trust- but once again, if all some of you have to say is how much you dislike Ginny from canon, I would rather you stopped reading this story. Nobody is forcing you. Anyway, enough with that; as one of my first and most faithful readers has said to me in the past, you can't please everybody.
Now, one last thing before you go on; I know you are all waiting for Harry to start getting recognized for his ingenuity. I'm pleased to inform you the moment is approaching. It's not him being revealed as the boy who lived yet, but it's a start. I just believe that he can't just jump from one day being completely in the shadows to the spotlight at once. He needs a catalyst; and that's swiftly approaching.
Please forgive me for the lengthy author's note; I just needed to get this out of my chest. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed so far; no matter what, it's good to see so many people take time of their lives to read my story.
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too and don't forget to review!
Disclaimer; If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be posting this from my house on a private beach at Bora Bora, while sipping from my daiquiri. I'm not.
UNPLEASANT SURPRISES
And somewhere far away, in a land untouched by time, a Seer smiled as yet another thread of a prophecy she had made long ago started stepping into her path. Soon, she realized as she went to inform her husband of the latest development, all pieces would fall into place. Soon.
Harry was staring frustrated at the designs in front of him, an action in which he had devoted at least two hours of his time that afternoon. When he had first heard the idea, when he had first learned of the possibility that he could change into another animal but a wolf, he had thought it amazing. Once he realized that other form could be one of a bird, allowing him to fly with no other magical aid than the transformation itself, he was exhilarated. The moment Severus had brought him the anatomically perfectly accurate designs of the falcons they had selected, he had been exhilarated. And once he started to actually study said designs, he felt like banging his head against the wall.
He should have known really that it wouldn't be easy; he should have gathered as much from Severus's warning or the fact that the specific magical practice had been almost forgotten and considered exceptionally difficult long before it was considered forbidden. He should have known but his excitement had clouded all other functions in his mind until he was certain that the second Animagus form wouldn't be so hard to achieve; he had been fooling himself.
"It's impossible." He murmured for what must have been the tenth time in that afternoon. He had to somehow memorize every muscle, every nerve ending and tiny bone the falcon he aspired to turn into possessed. The eyes alone could take him months! He sighed and looked at the hour; he had officially missed lunch. Again.
"Keep skipping meals and Minnie's going to throttle me for giving you these scrolls." The voice of Severus Snape called from over his left shoulder. Harry jumped in fear as he turned around, a hand over his rapidly beating heart.
"Keep surprising me like that and I'm going to throttle you." He retorted as Severus sat next to him, looking at the scrolls the boy had lay on one of the many desks in Silbreith's library.
"Love you too, kid." Severus stated unrepentant. "Still sweating over these?"
"It would appear that way." Harry offered as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. It had been quite an exhausting week for the now thirteen year old boy. First, there had been the meeting with one of the directors of the Nimbus Company. Severus had been right of course; having a goblin as his financial advisor -and a very eager to please goblin from the moment he realized the wizard he was representing spoke Gobbledegook- had stopped any possible attempts to cheat him because of his age. And the company wanted his design so much, that a magical contract was soon signed; in just a few days, he had become an official designer for the Nimbus Racing Brooms and his identity was -until the moment he decided to reveal it- held secret.
There had been some pressure on that aspect of the contact the moment they realized who Harry was -the twin of the Boy Who Lived designing for them was actually quite an advertisement- but Harry kindly reminded them, much to Severus's amusement, that he could always take his broomstick elsewhere. That had effectively silenced them and now Harry had galleons overflowing in his vault and more to come since he got a hefty percentage of the sales' profit. And the Firebolt -because Thunderbolt had sounded all wrong and the company had already come up with it before they had even considered the design, keeping faith on the sky inspired names- was bound to be a hit.
"Well don't." Severus said, cutting his happy thoughts of his broomstick short. "You won't succeed anything more while you're so tired."
"I know." Harry agreed. "Sorry I was so…"
"Smarmy?" Severus asked smirking. "Ah, the joys of being a teenager!" Harry threw him a dirty look that only elicited a chuckle from the potions master.
"Whatever." That's when he allowed himself to observe Severus better; the dark circles under his eyes were quite prominent and Harry wondered why. He sure hadn't been in his lab last night as Harry left his around eleven and would have seen him as he passed by. "And you know, Minnie will probably throttle you if you don't get enough sleep too."
"Why does she never threaten to throttle you, is beyond my understanding." Severus complained sulking.
"She just likes me better." Harry said with a shrug, causing yet another smirk to appear on Severus's face. "Now spill; what's troubling you?" Severus sighed.
"I can't stop thinking of Riddle's diary." He admitted. Harry regarded him confused.
"Why?"
"Well, even if we forget about the fact that it tried to kill you…"
"Unsuccessfully." Harry offered.
"…it also defies all I know about magic." Severus continued, not minding Harry's interruption.
"Well, Voldemort might be a complete and utter bastard," Harry stated, "but he's a smart bastard nonetheless."
"I know that." Severus agreed. "But I still don't understand how it was possible to create such a diary."
"Would you mind to elaborate?" The green eyed teen asked.
"Look at it this way; the Tom Riddle you met was supposed to be a memory, correct?" Severus questioned.
"For what his word is worth, that's what he said."
"That's the thing; he couldn't have been a memory!" Severus exclaimed. "At least not just a memory."
"How so?" Harry asked intrigued.
"I'm not saying that memories can not be trapped inside inanimate objects." Severus clarified. "Pensives are a testimony that such a magical object is within a skilled wizard's capabilities. But the memories held in objects like that are just memories; just that. Echoes of the past, with no free will of their own. And certainly you won't ever see someone feeding of the life force of a person and jump out a Pensive!"
"I see what you mean." Harry said thoughtfully. "So, if he wasn't a memory, what was he?" Severus expression turned grim.
"That's just the problem; I have no idea." Harry nodded gravely; he hated it when Severus had no idea of what was going on. Some instinctive part of him always believed that Severus had the answers to all of his questions and he guessed that would never change.
"And that's what's been keeping you up at nights?"
"Well that and the subject of memories in general." Harry's brow furrowed. Hadn't they had a similar conversation last summer?
"Have we talked about this in the past?" He asked the potions master who just smiled at the question.
"Of course you would remember." He stated affectionately.
"Weren't we talking about Pensives then too?" Harry asked, fighting back the intense feeling of déjà vu that gripped him. "After I had made my first operational broomstick, wasn't it? Last summer?"
"Yes, I believe it was." Severus agreed. "And I also believe that I said I would require your help when I had finished thinking about it." Harry smiled.
"I remember that too." He was already beginning to feel excited. "So, what were you thinking about?"
"Remember how we said that making a Pensive takes an unbelievable amount of time?" Severus asked.
"Yeah, I do." Harry nodded in agreement.
"Well, I've been thinking; the trouble with Pensives is that they demand powerful magic to hold all these memories inside and to be able to call forth any memory, no matter how old or forgotten." The potions master explained.
"I'm with you so far."
"But what if you only wanted to store a memory that was only just in the making?" Severus asked animatedly. "If you wanted to record and store something that was only just happening?"
"Like that Muggle invention?" Harry asked interested. He was always interested in Muggle inventions but magic of any sort overcharged them. "How's it called? Oh, a video camera?"
"Why yes!" Severus confirmed. "In theory it should be much easier to design than a Pensive and I have already found some enchantments that might just work."
"And how can I help?" Harry asked confused.
"Well, I can deal with the aspect of how the images can be recorded and reproduced; I'm thinking of some type of potion and maybe, oh, a couple of dozen charms." Severus stated.
"Sounds easy." Harry commented sarcastically.
"Never claimed it would be." Severus winked. "I was wondering if you could come up with a way to contain the memory; a vessel of some sort. Between the two of us, you're the one the one with blacksmith tendencies."
"True enough." Harry agreed.
"So?" Severus asked. "What do you say?"
"Oh I'm in!" Harry said waving his hand in a very 'that was obvious' gesture.
"That's my boy!" Severus exclaimed, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eyes, smiling all the while. "Any ideas?" He asked, looking at the concentrated look on Harry's face.
"I was thinking of Remebralls actually… I might have to right to Neville to ask him a thing or two. Maybe he could send his Remembrall over if he still has it." The green eyed boy declared, his mind travelling back to his first year at Hogwarts. Severus smiled.
The summer weeks flew by and mid August found Harry and Severus in Bulgaria. They had spent their days travelling around the Balkans, Severus going crazy over the abundance of magical flora in the area. They had just left the Rhodope Mountains and the Trigrad Gorge behind then and were currently staying at the other side of the country, at the city of Vratsa. Harry couldn't have been more excited; they had already seen the Vratsa Vultures in a game, an experience they would repeat a few days later, just before they left for England. And on top of that, the newest edition of the Which Broomstick was out. And on the top of the list, described as the best broomstick in the market and advertised as the choice of national teams for next year's Quidditch World Cup, was the Firebolt.
"Now that's something." Severus commended, shining with pride as he read the article that accompanied the picture. Harry had turned beet red.
"I never thought it would be such a hit, not really." He admitted; he knew it was a good broomstick, great even, but the selected broomstick for the World Cup? He honestly hadn't seen that one coming.
"I had. Congratulations, Harry."
"Thanks, Dad." Harry offered, smiling as wide as humanly possible, his eyes locked at the picture of the Firebolt on the page. Another thing he hadn't expected was his family's reaction to his creation.
"Did you see it, James?" Sirius asked, practically drooling over the very same issue of the Which Broomstick the week before school started.
"See what?" Prongs asked, looking up from his copy of the Daily Prophet.
"It, James!" He stated with wild eyes and pushed the magazine he was holding towards his friend as Harry tried to look absorbed in his cereal. "The new broomstick from Nimbus Company."
"There's a Nimbus Two Thousand and Three?" Adrian asked interested, moving closer to look at the magazine. "Malfoy's going to flip when he hears about it!"
"No, this one is outside of the regular Nimbus line." Sirius clarified as James and Adrian began to read the article. "It's called the Firebolt."
"It can go from zero to one hundred and fifty miles per hour in ten seconds?" James asked amazed as he read the article in question.
"It says here that there's one on display at Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley." Adrian said, his eyes gleaming. "Can we go see it?"
"Of course we can!" Sirius offered. "It says it will be out in the market sometime in November. Come see, Harry!"
"I've already seen the broomstick up close." Harry stated, earning awed looks from his family. "What?" He asked.
"Where did you see it?" Sirius asked reverently.
"Did you forget that I applied for work at the Nimbus Company during the summer?" Harry asked; he had told his family that he hadn't gotten the job after all, deciding to start next year instead. "I was there when they brought the Firebolt in."
"Did you touch it?" Adrian asked with a dreamy look. Harry tried not to laugh.
"Actually I did; I believe it was the prototype too." That wasn't a lie either; Harry had kept the prototype for himself. Severus insisted it would cost a fortune one day, so it was now decorating the wall of his bedroom back at Severus's castle. Harry was actually in the process of creating a Seeker's edition for the Firebolt, giving it that extra touch; it wasn't really difficult now that the basic design was perfected.
"You. Touched. The prototype?" Sirius squeaked.
"Yep!" Harry simply said as he took his now empty plate to the sink, leaving Sirius to hyperventilate in peace and James with Adrian to try and calm him down. Things only got worse when they actually visited Diagon Alley and they managed to get a close look; Lily had to intervene before James and Sirius ran into the shop and ordered two Firebolts, while Adrian and Ron -who had met with them at the Leaky Cauldron so they could get the school supplies for the next year- were looking at the broomstick stupefied.
Harry, who had almost toppled over watching the crowd that surrounded the window and the fact that the Firebolt was the only broom on display, idly wondered what would happen should James and Sirius buy the broomsticks and then find out who had designed them; it probably wouldn't be so pretty, he imagined. Hermione had to come and pull her two friends away from the window to go on with their shopping; she was holding her new giant, ginger cat, Crookshanks -half kneazle, Harry noted- and she was decided to not waste any more time ogling a broom.
Harry had made a small stop as they walked back to the shops to pick up Neville from the Leaky Cauldron. They chatted animatedly over their holidays before rejoining the small group waiting out of them at the apothecary.
The visit to Flourish and Blotts had been another highlight of their shopping trip. Harry had selected Care of Magical Creatures along with Ron and his brother but instead of Divination, he opted for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. A few letters exchanged over the summer had persuaded Neville to exchange Divination with Ancient Runes, a subject he had wanted to take but had been certain he would fail at before Harry managed to persuade him otherwise. Hermione on the other hand, had picked each and every subject available and Harry just couldn't see how she was to attend every class without a time-turner.
The shock of the day however came when they went to buy their Care of Magical Creatures book; the Monster Book of Monsters lived up to its title and Harry was surprised to see it was the same book Hagrid had gotten for him an Adrian for their birthdays; the book had only come with the inscription that it would prove useful and now the green eyed wizard understood why. The manager of the shop almost burst into tears when Neville, Ron and Hermione asked for three copies.
The days passed in a relative calm after that; Sirius looked smug about something he was supposed to be keeping a surprise and Harry hoped he hadn't gone and ordered a Firebolt or something. Joking apart, he'd rather his family didn't have to spend that kind of money -no matter how much they had- on something he had made. But other than that, life continued as normal.
Harry was sketching the main outline of the device Severus was planning on creating; it was a bit tricky, considering he had never worked with glass before but, in this instance, transparency was a must. A quick glance at his bedside clock informed him of the hour being well over midnight and he sighed, not understanding where time had flew off to again. He was just about to get under the covers and call it a night when hasty footsteps echoed in the house, a couple of floors beneath him; James's office he guessed. Then came the frantic voices, muffled by the distance and the objects between their source and the young wizard but enough to arouse his curiosity and even alarm him a little.
Not wasting another second, Harry silently slipped from his bed and made his way down towards the voices; the manor was dark, but the soft light coming from the lit fireplace and the light coming from the partially open office door was enough to let him see where he was going. He stopped just around the corner and listened carefully, trying not to make a sound. And it was his conscious effort to remain silent that prevented him from gasping when he heard the reason of the commotion.
"… not how he escaped." Sirius's voice echoed in the hallway.
"But it should be impossible." Lily protested, the shock evident in her voice. "The wards around his cage alone should have…"
"They hadn't updated the anti-transformation wards Lily." Remus's tired voice interrupted her. "Merlin knows why, but they hadn't."
"Because Fudge is a complete moron, that's why!" James exclaimed. "Peter is dangerous, the reason my sons were almost killed and a confirmed animagus! How could they not secure the wards?" Harry froze; Peter? As in Peter Pettigrew? He had once seen a picture of the man in a newspaper, all the photographs of him in his younger years destroyed or thrown away from the Potter house. The small, beady eyes and plump face Harry remembered were the opposite of what you expected from a devout Death Eater. Maybe just what you expected of a traitor. And he was out of Azkaban?
"It doesn't take a genius to guess what he will do next." Sirius stated darkly.
"You think he'll be after Adrian?" Lily asked frightened; Harry had never heard his mother so scared. It was unnerving to say the least.
"What else could he do?" Remus asked. "If he just stays hidden, the Ministry will eventually locate him, unless he spends the rest of his life as a rat. But even if he does try that, in the case were Voldemort returns, even his animagus form will not save him from the Dark Lord's wrath."
"So you're saying he's just trying to save his hide?" Sirius asked outraged.
"Has he ever done anything else?" James wondered out loud. Silence followed his words as everyone in the room contemplated the implications of this latest development. It was a small comfort, but it was times like these when Harry was the happiest he had stayed in the shadows and let his brother assume the title of the Boy Who Lived. Not that he'd rather stay safe when Adrian was in danger, no; he just chose not to fool himself. When a Death Eater was out for revenge -especially this specific Death Eater who would go to great lengths just to stay safe- he would go for the weaker target; logically that would be the other brother.
Almost snorting on how that sounded, Harry considered the odds; if Adrian was in his place, he would have, most likely, been untrained. He would have been a sitting duck as the Muggles so eloquently put it. Now he would be under constant watch while Harry was in place to defend himself, or at least distract his assailant for long enough to make a run for his life.
"What now?" Sirius asked resigned.
"We keep the searches going." James said. "We keep looking and we of course reinforce the defences of Hogwarts." That seemed the best option at the time, the green eyed wizard thought. "It's lucky you'll be the Defence teacher this year Padfoot." So that's what had him smiling all summer. Harry nodded in approval; Sirius might generally seem like he had no care in the world, but he at least knew the subject he was about to teach.
"With the searches going on, I don't know how I will juggle everything." The dog animagus admitted.
"You have to go!" Lily shouted. "Adrian will need all the help he can get…" That had stung a little. It was as if they truly thought Harry wouldn't be affected.
"And I will go." Sirius assured her, sounding more mature than he had ever heard him. "I'm just saying I will also be required to help in the searches; I'm second in command of the Aurors Lily and I knew Peter once." He reminded her. Now that was a fine point if Harry had ever heard one.
"I might be able to help with that." Remus offered.
"How?"
"Considering the situations, I could take over half of the classes." Moony supplied. "That way one of us will always be at Hogwarts."
"Could you do that?" James asked somewhat calmer.
"Fudge is in no point to deny such a request at the moment." Remus simply stated.
"I don't know." Lily muttered. "Maybe we should keep the boys here this year, have them homeschooled…" Harry cringed at the prospect.
"Lily!" James exclaimed. "My sons will never hide from the likes of…"
"They're my sons too!" The red head shouted back. Remus and Sirius intervened before the argument evolved into a full blown shouting match.
"Shouting won't solve anything." Sirius authoritative voice -Harry didn't know his godfather had one- sounded clear.
"Besides Lily," Remus reasoned "Hogwarts has Dumbledore and ancient wards that actually work."
"Last year it also had a basilisk and two years ago Voldemort himself." Lily countered.
"The basilisk was killed by your own son Lily." True, Harry thought. "And it was a teacher that brought Voldemort in; the only new professors this year will be me and Remus." Sirius reminded her. "The boys will not be safer here; Hogwarts is our best chance, as always."
"I still don't like it." Lily stated, not ready to admit defeat.
"What else can we do Lils?" James asked softly. "I have to join the searches and even if you took a year off, we wouldn't be able to secure Adrian wouldn't be attacked here." There it was again, Harry thought; they really didn't expect him to be attacked. Unreasonably naïve.
"Both your sons will be safer at Hogwarts." Remus stated and Harry felt his hear warm a little more for his honorary uncle.
"And they will be able to keep on living their lives too, at least at a semblance of normality." Sirius added. "I mean, can you imagine Adrian without Ron and Hermione for a year, or Harry away from Neville and Hogwarts? The kid loves it there!" Thank you for that Padfoot, the green eyed wizard thought smiling softly.
"I know, Sirius." Lily admitted after a soft pause. "I just don't like it; it seems there's danger everywhere."
"We knew ever since we heard that Prophecy that it would be that way." James said. "At least until Voldemort is gone for good." The silence was deafening after that comment.
"Well at least in Hogwarts there's Minerva." Sirius stated trying to lighten the mood.
"Minerva, Padfoot?" Remus asked confused.
"Yeah." The dog animagus affirmed barking out a laugh. "She was one of the first that reached Azkaban you know, after the escape."
"What?" Lily asked confusion colouring her voice. "Why?"
"She was the one that had placed the original wards on Peter's cage, wasn't she?" James noted.
"Yes and she had left them with clear instructions on what to do after that, how to keep refreshing them." Sirius provided. "I wasn't there when it happened but I heard she was furious; no one even dared to approach her as she stormed back to Hogwarts, even if she had technically assaulted a dozen of the Ministry's officers. Mate, I wish I had been there for that…" Some soft chuckles were heard and Harry figured he had heard enough.
He returned to his room lost in thought and, not knowing what else to do, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill; he wouldn't see Severus for a couple of days and he couldn't not write him of what had happened, even though he probably knew already. He waited for Hedwig to come back from her hunt before giving her the letter. He watched as her white form faded away in the night. Even as he returned to his bed, Harry knew there would be no sleep for him that night; there would only be more wondering of how the school year would end up this time.